Apparatus for continuous casting with a number of casting positions

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for continuous casting having a plurality of casting positions and comprising a casting wheel with a metal band associated therewith and a crucible for feeding molten metal to the casting wheel. The apparatus further comprises a roller for pressing the band at the feed portion, and an idle pulley for stretching the band. The crucible, the pressing roller and the idle pulley are mounted on a support structure hinged to the base frame of the apparatus coaxially with the casting wheel. The support structure consists of a column and it can be rotated through a certain arc by suitable drive means.

[ Mar. 4, 1975 i United States Patent [1 1 Properzi APPARATUS FORCONTINUOUS CASTING WITH A NUMBER OF CASTING POSITIONS PrimaryExaminer-Francis S. Husar Assistant E.\'aminer-John E. Roethel [76]Inventor: Giulio Properzi, Via Pietro Cossa 1 Milan, Italy Attorney,Agent, or Firn7Dr. Guido Modiano; Dr. Albert Josif 22 Filed: May 8,1973

21 Appl. N03 358,433

ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data 'May 10. 1972 24182/72feeding molten metal to the casting wheel. The appa- [52] U.S. Cl.164/278 ratus further comprises a roller for pressing the band B22d11/06 at the feed portion, and an idle pulley for stretching the band.The crucible, the pressing roller and the idle [Sl] Int.

[58] Field of Search............................... 164/87, 278

pulley are mounted on a support structure hinged to [56] ReferencesCited the base frame of the apparatus coaxially with the UNITED ST TES ETS casting wheel. The support structure consists of a column and it canbe rotated through a certain are by suitable drive means.

2,749,584 6/1956 Fey et 164/278 3.710.846 l/l973Properzi.............................. 164/278 3.735.802 5/1973 Chia etal. 164/278 3.785.428 1/1974 Hazelett et 164/278 4 Clams 8 DrawmgF'gures PATENTEDHIAR 4191s SHEET 1 0F 5 Fig. 7

PATENTED 5 snmau s PATENTED 41975 smums APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS CASTINGWITH A NUMBER OF CASTING POSITIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to an apparatus for continuous casting with a numberof casting positions.

In apparatus for continuous casting, in which a continuous bar is formedby the rotation of a casting wheel provided on its periphery with agroove partially closed by a metal band for receiving the molten metalfor forming the bar, casting is carried out by means of a cruciblestanding above the wheel and provided with a nozzle which penetratesinto the groove for the purpose of feeding the molten metal into it. Thepositions of this crucible and the nozzle are notably adjusted in such amanner as to feed the molten metal at different angles, in other wordsthe crucible may be arranged with the nozzle vertical or with the nozzlealmost horizontal or in an intermediate position.

The choice of these positions is mainly determined by the type of metalto be cast and the practice of the person who operates the castingapparatus.

In apparatus in which the crucible can be positioned at will, means mustalso be, provided for varying the position of the metal band relative tothe feed point of the metal, where a band pressing roller is disposed.

To carry out this operation it has been proposed by the same applicantthat the crucible, the band pressing roller and other auxiliary devicesbe mounted on a rotating structure with its axis coincident with that ofthe wheel. However with this solution, which is very effective becauseof the numerous casting positions which it allows, each time the castingposition is changed, the position of the band also has to be changed,and in particular of the idle pulley for the band mounted above thewheel. The movement of the pulley from a position above the castingwheel to a position more or less angularly displaced from the verticalis carried out by manually fixing the pulley in a number of positions onan arm rigid with the column which supports the pulley. It is alsonecessary each time to change the band, because its length changes. Thisoperation, which is carried out separately from the operation ofadjustment of the crucible casting position, requires not only aconsiderable time during which the apparatus must remain inactive, butalso the assistance of a number of workers and hoisting means inaddition to the fact that for each casting position a band of determinedlength is necessary. If one considers that the band is very thin andsubject to considerable thermal and mechanical stresses, and has thus alimited life, the need to have available numerous bands of differentlengths considerably increases the operating costs of the castingapparatus.

It should also be noted that the support structure for the idle pulleyis considerably bulky, as it has to allow a large movement between theextreme positions of the pulley itself.

The manual operation of moving and locking the spindle of the pulley isvery heavy and tiring, because of which one often foregoes carrying outthe casting in the most advantageous position so as not to have to carryout these arrangement operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is toovercome all these disadvantages by providing a continuous castingapparatus in which casting may be carried out in positions, variablebetween the vertical and horizontal position, without it being necessaryto carry out complicated separate adjustment operations on the othermachine members, such as the idle pulley.

A further object of the invention is to provide a continuous castingapparatus the overall size of which both in a horizontal and in avertical direction is small.

A further object of the invention is to provide a continuous castingapparatus in which it is not necessary to change the band each time anadjustment of the casting position is made. In this manner. in thelimit, the apparatus according to the invention can enable the castingposition to be adjusted without interrupting the casting itself.

The invention also proposes a continuous casting apparatus in whichother secondary adjustments are also possible, such as adjustment of theposition of the band pressing roller at the feed point of the metal, andthe variation of the position of the cooling devices.

These and further objects evident from the following description areattained by an apparatus for continuous casting with a number of castingpositions, comprising in the known manner a casting wheel, a cruciblefor feeding molten metal to said casting wheel, a metal band associatedfor a certain portion with said casting wheel, a band pressing roller atsaid feed point, an idle pulley for the band mounted at a distance fromsaid casting wheel and means for cooling the casting wheel and saidband, in which at least said crucible. said band pressing roller andsaid idle pulley for said band are mounted on a support structure hingedto the frame of the casting apparatus coaxially with the casting wheel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further characteristics of theinvention will be more evident from the following detailed descriptionof a preferred embodiment of the invention, indicated by way of examplein the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows the continuous casting apparatus according to the inventionin the position assumed for vertical casting;

FIG. 2 is a partial section through the apparatus on a vertical planepassing through the axis of the casting wheel;

FIG. 3 is a section on an enlarged scale of the drive device for movingthe hinged support structure;

FIG. 4 is a view of the adjustment unit for the band pressing rollerlocated at the feed point of the molten metal;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the unit shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a section through said unit on an enlarged scale, on a planeparallel to the axis of the casting wheel;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrammatic representations of two positions assumedby the casting apparatus, the position of FIG. 8 being thatcorresponding to practically horizontal casting.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The apparatus for continuouscasting according to the invention comprises a base frame I on which thecasting wheel 2 is rotatably mounted, made to rotate by drive means (notshown) also mounted on the base frame 1. The casting wheel 2 has aperipheral groove '3 and is closed in known manner through a certain arcby the metal band 4, which winds around the wheel 2 and the idle pulley5. The cooling devices, of known type, are indicated diagrammatically bythe reference numerals 6 and 7, and comprise a series of nozzles 8 forcooling the inside of the casting wheel 2 and nozzles not shown indetail for cooling the outside of the band 4. The cooling liquid reachesthe nozzles through the ducts 9 and 10 for the internal cooling and 11for the cooling of the band, respectively.

The crucible for the molten metal is indicated by the reference numeral12 and is provided with a feed nozzle 13 for the metal which penetratesinto the zone between the band 4 and wheel 2 at the point ofintroduction of the metal for'the casting.

The nozzle is fed through a connection with the crucible arrangedcoaxially' with the point of hinging 15.

The crucible 12 is slidably mounted on a cradle 16, the cradle having asubstantially semi-cylindrical development and its centre at the hingingpoint 15 of the nozzle support.

The cradle 16 is mounted slidably vertically on guides 18, which arefixed in their turn to the column 19. A gear reduction motor unit 20 isprovided for moving the cradle in the vertical direction.

The column 19 supports at its upper end 22 the idle pulley 5 by means ofan angle arm 21 hinged to the end 22 of the column. The angle arm 21 ishinged, at the end 23 opposite that on which the pulley 5 is idlymounted, to the mobile rod 24, which is slidably mounted in a supportcylinder 25 mounted on the column 19. The movement of the rod 24 isattained by a screw-nut screw coupling and is controlled by the gearreduction motor unit 26 fixed to the support cylinder. It is clear thatthe operation of the rod 24 leads to a movement of the angle arm 21 andhence to a movement of the axis of the pulley 5, thus being able tostretch the metal band 4 to a greater or lesser extent.

The means for cleaning the band 4, of known type, are indicated by thereference numeral 27 and are mounted on the column 19 at 28. r

The column 19 is hinged to the base frame 1 of the continuous castingapparatus coaxially with the casting wheel 2. In particular the lowerend of the column 19 terminates in a sleeve element 29 which extends fora length slightly greater than the width of the column 19,

the sleeve element being rotatably mounted on the tubular supportelement 30 fixed at its ends to the base frame 1 by means of thesupports 31 and 32. The tubular support element 30 is mounted around theshaft 33 of the casting wheel, which is supported by way of the bearings34 and 35 by the supports 31 and 32 and is rotated by drive means (notshown). Inside the shaft 33 is the duct 10 for internal cooling, asalready mentioned. The sleeve element 29 is kept in position byinterposing rings 38 and 39, in order to avoid lateral movements of thecolumn 19.

Rigid with the column 19 is an arm 40 supporting the band pressingroller 41 disposed at the point of introduction of the liquid metal intothe groove 2. The roller 41 is mounted on the arm 40 so that it can bemoved relative to this latter, by means of the member 42 hinged to thearm 40 at 43 and operated in a manner which will be described in detailhereinafter.

Rotation of the column 19 about the axis of the casting wheel 2 is madeby means of the control device 45, visible diagrammatically in FIG. 1and in detail in FIG. 3, which shows a section through it from above.

This control device comprises a threaded shaft 46 provided with anappendix 47, rigid with the shaft and supported by the bearings 48housed in the support body 49. This is provided with seats 50 forhousing pivots 51 for hinging the support lugs 52 rigidly fixed to theframe 1. On the support body 49 is mounted the gear riduction motor unit53 which, by way of members not shown in detail but evident, rotates theshaft 54 which is rotatably connected to the appendix 47, and hencerotates the threaded shaft 46.

With the threaded shaft 46 is engaged a threaded bush 55, which in itsturn is fixed to one end of the tubular element 56 which extends to thecolumn 19 and is pivoted to this column at 57 by a pivot 58 welded tothe column and passing throughthe appendix 59 of the tubular element 56.

From the description it can be seen that on operation of the gearriduction motor unit 53 and the consequent rotation of the threadedshaft 46, the bush 55 and the tubular element 56 move and hence thecolumn 19 rotates about the axis of the casting wheel 2. This rotationcauses the simultaneous movement of the cradle carrying the crucible 12,the arm 40 carrying the roller 41, the band stretching pulley 5, theband cleaning unit 27, the header 6 for cooling the band, the extractorunit 61 and the guide 62 for the bar, ie all those members directlyconcerned with the casting.

In particular it should be noted that during rotation of the column, thecrucible is maintained in the vertical position (FIGS. 7 and 8) whereasthe nozzle 13 takes different positions, as it can rotate about thepoint 15.

The described adjustment permits working with an infinite number ofcasting positions, all equally determinable and all attainable evenduring a single casting operation.

The device for extracting the bar is indicated by the reference numeral61 and the guide for the bar at the exit of the casting wheel beforereaching the subsequent working station is indicated by the referencenumeral 62. These members mounted on the column 19 and suitablyadjustable in position are of known type and are not further describedhere.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show the device for adjusting the position of the bandpressing roller 41 with respect to the wheel 2 and band 4. The roller 41is rotatably mounted freely on the pivot 64, which is mounted projectingin the housing 65, welded to the hinged body 42.

The hinged body 42 is mounted on the arm 40 by a drum 68 which canrotate at the end 69 of the arm. In particular the body 42 is pivoted tothe drum 68 by the pivot 70 in an eccentric position with respect to theaxis of the drum and is kept there by means of screws such as thatindicated by the reference numeral 71. The drum is provided on itsperipheral surface with helical toothing 72 with which meshes a worm 73drivable from the outside and disposed rotatably in an appendix 74 ofthe arm 40. In this manner the rotation of the worm 73 enables thehinged body to assume various positions as the pivot 70 moves along thedotted line 75, moving the roller 41 along the wheel 2.

At the end 76 of the body 42 opposite that on which the roller 41 ismounted, there is pivoted the rod 77 of a pneumatic cylinder 44, whichis in its turn hinged to the arm 40 at 78. An adjustment screw 79 isdisposed in the body 42 near the roller 41, and cooperates with the stopsurface 80 so as to exactly establish the position of the hinged body 42and roller 41 with respect to the arm 40 and hence to the casting wheel.

The purpose of the pneumatic cylinder 44 is to enable the roller 41 tomove for replacing the band and other similar purposes, by rotating theroller about the pivot 70 so withdrawing it from the wheel 2.

The device for adjusting the position of the band pressing roller isparticularly useful when horizontal or approximately horizontal castingis required, although this device can be used for casting in anyposition. For this purpose reference is made to FIGS. 1, 7 and 8. In thefirst two it can be seen that the band 4 only suffers a slightdeflection at the roller 41, because of which the mechanical stressesare limited and the band is better preserved. In FIG. 8 it can be seenthat the roller 41 has undergone a displacement towards the left and theband has suffered a slightly greater deflection. This is made necessaryby the horizontal casting, which could not be such if the roller 41 wasnot made to advance. With the described device it is possible to obtainperfect adherence of the band 4 to the groove as far as the verticalpassing through the axis of the wheel, hence giving perfectly horizontalcasting and simultaneously leaving room for positioning the nozzle ofthe horizontal casting. The deflection of the band in this position isstill modest, so that the band is not stressed to an undesirable extent.

From the description it can be seen that with the apparatus according tothe invention it is possible to carry out casting in any positionvariable between the vertical and horizontal positions without having todisassemble the band, move the idle pulley 5 or apply a new band ofanother length each time. The additional adjustments of the position ofthe crucible and band pressing roller can be made in a very simplemanner simultaneously with the rotation of the column 19.

As seen from FIGS. 1, 7 and 8, the manifold 6 of the external coolingdevice is rigidly fixed to the column 19, so that this device maintainsits position relative to the portion of groove covered by the band 4,where cooling is effectively required, whatever the position of thecolumn 19 and band 4 may be.

It can also be seen that the overall size of the apparatus according tothe invention is small while giving a large range between the extremecasting positions.

The apparatus described is susceptible to modifications all of whichfall within the scope of the invention. Thus different means foradjusting the band pressing roller 41 may be made or this adjustment maybe associated directly with that of the column, in the sense of makingthe two adjustments occur simultaneously.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for continuous casting of metal, comprising a frame, acasting wheel rotatably supported by said frame, a crucible for feedingmolten metal to said casting wheel, a peripheral groove in said castingwheel, a metal band covering said groove along an arc portion to definea metal receiving mold therewith, a band pressing roller arrangedsubstantially at the point at which molten metal is fed into saidgroove, an idle pulley for said band arranged at a distance from saidcasting wheel, a support structure for said idle pulley and for saidband pressing roller, and means for cooling said casting wheel and saidband, wherein said support structure includes a column supporting saididle pulley at one end and hinged at the other end to said framecoaxially with said casting wheel and an arm rigid with said column forsupporting said band pressing roller, and wherein said crucible isadjustably supported by said column, the apparatus further comprisingmeans for angularly displacing said column and means for displacing saidcrucible with respect to said column to position said crucible in anypreferred casting position along a relevant arc of said casting wheel.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said band pressing rolleris adjustably mounted on said arm, the means for adjusting said rollerwith respect to said arm including a drum rotatably arranged on the freeend of said arm, an elongated support body rotatably supporting saidband pressing roller at one end and hinged to said drum in an eccentricposition, and means for rotating said drum, whereby rotation thereofcauses said band pressing roller to be displaced peripherally withrespect to said casting wheel.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which said crucible is mountedon a substantially semi-cylindrical cradle and comprises a nozzle hingedto said crucible at a point lying substantially on the axis of saidsubstantially semi-cylindrical cradle.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which said cradle is slidablymounted on said column.

1. An apparatus for continuous casting of metal, comprising a frame, acasting wheel rotatably supported by said frame, a crucible for feedingmolten metal to said casting wheel, a peripheral groove in said castingwheel, a metal band covering said groove along an arc portion to definea metal receiving mold therewith, a band pressing roller arrangedsubstantially at the point at which molten metal is fed into saidgroove, an idle pulley for said band arranged at a distance from saidcasting wheel, a support structure for said idle pulley and for saidband pressing roller, and means for cooling said casting wheel and saidband, wherein said support structure includes a column supporting saididle pulley at one end and hinged at the other end to said framecoaxially with said casting wheel and an arm rigid with said column forsupporting said band pressing roller, and wherein said crucible isadjustably supported by said column, the apparatus further comprisingmeans for angularly displacing said column and means for displacing saidcrucible with respect to said column to position said crucible in anypreferred casting position along a relevant arc of said casting wheel.2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said band pressing rolleris adjustably mounted on said arm, the means for adjusting said rollerwith respect to said arm including a drum rotatably arranged on the freeend of said arm, an elongated support body rotatably supporting saidband pressing roller at one end and hinged to said drum in an eccentricposition, and means for rotating said drum, whereby rotation thereofcauses said band pressing roller to be displaced peripherally withrespect to said casting wheel.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, inwhich said crucible is mounted on a substantially semi-cylindricalcradle and comprises a nozzle hinged to said crucible at a point lyingsubstantially on the axis of said substantially semi-cylindrical cradle.4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which said cradle is slidablymounted on said column.